“Two long individual time trials and a relatively long prologue – that is optimal and motivates me a lot,” he told the dapd news agency.

“I will look at the stage plan and go into the Tour without pressure. My big goal for the year is gold in the time trial in London, but I certainly won't voluntarily give up time in the Tour.”

If Martin should win the prologue, he would probably be able to retain the leader's yellow jersey for the first full week.

“On the flat stages, Tony should not, must not, may not fall behind,” said Rolf Aldag, his sport director at HTC-Highroad, to the SID news agency. Aldag will continue to serve as an advisor to the world time trial champion, who next year will ride for Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

Martin's major goal next year is the Olympic time trial, but he would not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey for the first time. However, the question of whether he would ride the Tour to the end is still unsettled, and to a certain extent depends up on his time trial rivals.

“If they leave the race early, then Tony would endanger his Olympics if he continues on,” Aldag said.

Related Riders

Cyclingnews Newsletter

Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter, from Immediate Media Company Limited. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy